Prior art medical/surgical systems such as ophthalmic surgical systems with control displays provide limited access to the control display, touch screen, and graphical user interface (GUI). In some medical/surgical systems, the control display is permanently affixed to the front panel of the machine so that it cannot be moved. In other medical/surgical systems, the control display is mounted on a yoke-type device so that the control display can both spin from side to side about a vertical axis and also tilt about a horizontal axis. However, since the display is still centered on and mounted to the medical/surgical system, the health care professional is still restricted to accessing the control display from a position directly in front of the machine.
Restricting the control display to a position directly in front of a medical/surgical system is a problem in a medical/surgical setup where trays of surgical tools and devices must often be placed directly in front of the system. In this configuration, a health professional must reach over the surgical tools and devices to gain access to the control display. Such positioning of the control display risks compromising the sterile field near the machine and over the surgical tools and devices.
Another situation that presents difficulty is accessing the GUI when the patient is positioned between the medical/surgical system and the user. In this situation, the user must reach over the patient to access the GUI.
Yet another problem is accommodating the body position of the health care professional using the medical/surgical system. In some procedures the health care professional is more comfortable working from a sitting position. In other procedures the heath care professional is more comfortable working from a standing position. Whether seated or standing, the height of the health care professional is also a major concern. This is because a health care professional can misread the screen because the screen is not properly positioned to provide a clear line of sight. Misreading the screen could result in an improper and possibly unsafe step in a surgical procedure. Accordingly, the proper placement of a control display with respect to the eyes of a health care professional to avoid glare from the screen, reflections from room lighting, or distortions of the images appearing on the control display is essential.
It has also been found that the pivoting of prior art control display positioning systems into different orientations causes twisting of the cables housed within the control display positioning system. This twisting of the cables places a mechanical stress on the cables. This mechanical stress will eventually cause the cables to break. In some prior art systems the cables leading to a control display are wrapped into tight coils. In other prior art systems, movement of the cables is restricted at each cable end. This restricting of the movement of the cables at each end is done so that the mechanical stress caused by movement of the cable on each axis could be reduced axis by axis.
The problem with the axis by axis restriction on cable movement is that the cables must be quite long because the length of the cable needed to handle the rotation in each axis is additive. The increased cable length is required to be stored in a relatively large coil. The need to store a relatively large coil of cable increases the overall size of the control display positioning system. When several cable movement axes are used in series, the length of the cable necessitates a significant increase in the size of the control display positioning system. It has also been found that using coiled cables and restricting movement of the cable ends is not an acceptable solution when multiple cables are used. Further, it has also been found that it is advantageous to separate video signal transmission cables from other cables to reduce the amount of noise added to the video signal.
Another problem with prior art control display positioning systems is that the spring force, used to push friction generation surfaces together, is typically created by the compression of a series of wave washers. Because individual wave washers provide a relatively low level of force when compressed, several wave washers must be used in series to generate the amount of force needed to press on the friction generation surfaces. Wave washers also are characterized by a linear deflection to force curve (spring rates). As a result, variations in the deflection of the wave washers caused by a variation in the dimensions of the wave washers and their mating parts cause a large variation in spring force. This large variation in spring force, in turn, results in a large variation in frictional force.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a control display positioning system that is usable with a piece of medical/surgical equipment that: a) adjusts the position of the control to display to where it can be best seen by a health care professional; b) reduces the mechanical stress on the electrical cables providing electrical signals to the control display; c) provides a wide range of motion for the control display, and d) retains its position when manually repositioned.